As California goes, so goes the nation. This has long been a feature of American public policy. If you want to look at the future of the country, take a look at California, the state when so many American trends originate. From music and food to welfare policy and technology, if it happens in the Golden State eventually it’s likely to happen to the country as a whole.

This makes a recent press release issued by the University of California system particularly interesting.

The number of fall 2013 freshman applications to the University of California’s nine undergraduate campuses rose to record highs, with increases over the previous year ranging from 9.7 percent to 16.9 percent. Marking a milestone in California demographics, Chicanos-Latinos — the largest racial/ethnic group among state high school graduates — now are the largest ethnic group among California freshman applicants.

That’s right, there are now more Latinos applying to the UC system than there are applicants from any other ethnic group.

According to the the data the institution released, 6 percent of applicants were black, 31 percent of applicants were Asian, and 32 percent identified as Chicano/Latino. Only 27 percent of this year’s UC applications came from high school students who identified their race as white.

Daniel Luzer
is the news editor at Governing Magazine and former web editor of the Washington Monthly. Find him on Twitter: @Daniel_Luzer

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